Topic 1: Dealing with the Infodemic
you, and that consuming large quantities of
As stated by the WHO, the COVID-19 outbreak
and response has been accompanied by a
massive infodemic: an overabundance of
information – some accurate and some not –
that makes it hard for people to find
trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when
they need it. Infodemic refers to a large
increase in the volume of information
associated with a specific topic and whose
growth can occur exponentially in a short
period of time due to a specific incident, such as
the current pandemic. In this situation,
misinformation and rumors appear on the
scene, along with manipulation of information
with doubtful intent. In the information age,
this phenomenon is amplified through social
networks, spreading farther and faster like a
virus.
“We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re
fighting an infodemic,” said Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World
Health Organization (WHO) at a gathering of
foreign policy and security experts in Munich,
Germany, in mid- February, referring to fake
news that “spreads faster and more easily than
this virus.”
WHO explains that infodemics are an excessive
amount of information about a problem, which
makes it difficult to identify a solution. They can
spread misinformation, disinformation and
rumours during a health emergency. Infodemics
can hamper an effective public health response
and create confusion and distrust among
people.
In response, a team of WHO “mythbusters” are
working with search and media companies like
Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Tencent, Twitter,
TikTok, YouTube and others to counter the
spread of rumours, which include
misinformation like that the virus cannot
survive in the hot weather, that taking a high
dose of chloroquine medication can protect
ginger and garlic can prevent the virus.
https://iris.paho.org/bitstream/handle/
10665.2/52052/Factsheet-infodemic_eng.pdf
https://www.un.org/en/un-coronavirus-
communications-team/un-tackling-
%E2%80%98infodemic%E2%80%99-
misinformation-and-cybercrime-covid-19
Topic 2:
Although we now have a seemingly simple
dictionary definition of “fake news” as “false
stories that appear to be news, spread on the
Internet or using other media, usually created
to influence political views or as a joke” (Fake
News, 2018), determining what is and what is
not false is rather complex. There is
considerable disagreement when it comes to
determining which content should be
considered “fake news” and which should be
excluded. This holds especially true as the term
“fake news” has become highly political and is
often used as a buzzword not only used to
describe fabricated information but to
undermine the credibility of news organizations
or argue against commentary that disagrees
with our own opinion (Nielsen & Graves,
2017; Tandoc et al., 2018)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/
10.1177/0002764219878224
Information Disorder refers to the various ways
in which out information environment has been
contaminated. There are three types of
information disorder: mis-information, dis-
information, and mal-information.
 Mis-information = false information +
mistake (good-will)
 Dis-information = false information +
intent to harm (ill will)
  Mal-information = true information +
intent to harm
7 types of mis- and dis-information
1. Satire or parody- no intention to cause
harm but has a potential to fool
2. False connection- when headlines,
visuals or captions don’t support the
content
3. Misleading content- misleading use of
information to frame an issue
4. False context- when genuine content is
shared with false contextual
information.
5. Impostor content- when genuine
sources are impersonated
6. Manipulated content- when genuine
information or imagery is manipulated
to deceive
7. Fabricated content—new content that
is 100% made to deceive and do harm
 The spread of true and false news
online (Vosoughi & Aral, 2018)
- False news stories were 70% more likely
to be re-tweeted than true stories
- It took true stories around six times
longer to reach 1,500 people
- True stories were rarely shared beyond
1,000 people, but the most popular
false news could reach up to 10,000
Coordinated inauthentic behavior happened
when “groups of pages work together to
mislead others about who they are or what they
are doing.”
“when we take down one of these networks, its
because of their deceptive behavior. Its not
because of the content they’re sharing.”
Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of security
policy (Mateo, 2020)
https://about.fb.com/news/2018/12/inside-
feed-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior/
 Comelec wants laws vs online trolls,
regulated social media
The commission on elections (Comelec) will
push for laws regulating social media and
eliminating the use of trolls during the
campaign perios.
 Lateral reading is a technique for
researching a publication, website, or
author for credibility, reliability,
potential bias, and reputation.
We call this "lateral reading" because you
should make use of multiple tabs across a
browser in order to find information about a
site.
Evaluating where information comes from is a
crucial part of deciding whether it is
trustworthy. By observing fact checkers, we
found that the best way to learn about a
website is lateral reading—leaving a site to see
what other digital sources say about it.
 Stop and think before you take anything
as facts.
- Investigate the source; qualification,
expertise, agenda
- Trace claims, quotes, and media to the
original context; phrase search-use
quotaion mark (‘’ ‘”) for exact phrases,
reverse image search- is a technique
wherein it allows people to retrieve
content that is relevant to a particular
image. It is also known as content-
based image retrieval a method that
eliminates the need for a user to
identify keywords that may or may not
provide an accurate result.
- Find better coverage
if you don’t trust the source but you are
interested of the content then try to look for a
better source
https://www.techworm.net/2018/08/what-are-
the-uses-of-reverse-image-search.html
 Confirmation bias is the tendency to
search for, interpret, and recall
information in a way that supports what
we already believe.
We only take parts of a fact that support their
opinion. And disregard information that
challenges our opinion. There’s a danger of
people falling for false information because of
confirmation bias.
Once we have formed a view, we embrace
information that confirms that view while
ignoring, or rejecting, information that casts
doubt on it. Confirmation bias suggests that we
don’t perceive circumstances objectively. We
pick out those bits of data that make us feel
good because they confirm our prejudices.
Thus, we may become prisoners of our
assumptions. For example, some people will
have a very strong inclination to dismiss any
claims that marijuana may cause harm as
nothing more than old-fashioned reefer
madness. Some social conservatives will
downplay any evidence that marijuana does not
cause harm
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/
science-choice/201504/what-is-confirmation-
bias
 An ECHO CHAMBER is an environment
where a person only encounters
information or opinions that reflect
and reinforce their own.
Echo chambers can create misinformation and
distort a person’s perspective, so they have
difficulty considering opposing viewpoints and
discussing complicated topics. They’re fueled in
part by confirmation bias, which is the
tendency to favor info that reinforces existing
beliefs.
Echo chambers can happen anywhere
information is exchanged, whether it’s online
or in real life. But on the Internet, almost
anyone can quickly find like-minded people and
perspectives via social media and countless
news sources. This has made echo chambers far
more numerous and easier to fall into.
The Internet also has a unique type of echo
chamber called a filter bubble. Filter bubbles
are created by algorithms that keep track of
what you click on. Websites will then use those
algorithms to primarily show you content that’s
similar to what you’ve already expressed
interest in. This can prevent you from finding
new ideas and perspectives online.
https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-
literacy/what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/
 Reliance on emotion promotes belief in
fake news
“our result show that emotion plays a crucial
role in people’s susceptibility to incorrectly
perceiving fake news as being accurate.
Contrary to the popular motivated cognition
account, our findings indicate in a motivated or
identity-protective way, but in part because
they rely to heavily on emotion” (Martel
Pennycook & Rand, 2021)
Our action:
- Verify and fact-check before sharing
media messages and information.
- Guard our emotional reactions and
mind our biases as we engage with
media content and information. Get out
from our echo chamber
- Report false information in social media
platform
- Get information from multiple reliable
sources